oh.

Hello, I know I have not been on on a forever's time. Sadly I've had a lot of medical issues pop up and I'd been stuck trying to work it off to pay bills. But now I medically cannot work. I was recently diagnosed with epilepsy (photosensitive epilepsy) and I cannot drive or work. I cannot sew as I used to (as the needle when sewing mimics a flicker with the machines light), I cannot even work on a graphic novel as much as I was, previously. I'm having to learn to do things all over again and in a new way.

However I digress. I am asking if you can help spread this or even help if you can. I am trying to raise the money for an Epilepsy Response Service Dog. Any aid would be so appreciated and I would be eternally grateful.

weaver ants make nests by sticking leaves together with silk!

it’s architecturally really impressive, especially since one leaf is to an ant what a giant chunk of corrugated steel is to you. 

so how do they do it? ants aren’t particularly known for their silk-making ability.

well, first the weaver ants form living chains to literally winch the leaves down into position...

...aaand they they rely on some good old-fashioned child labor to make things stick.

see, there’s one form of ant that IS known to make silk- their larva! baby ants normally spin cocoons for themselves when they get ready to turn into an adult ant, just like caterpillars do.

but if you happen to be a weaver ant larva, you instead donate that silk to the good of the colony by becoming a living spot-welder. they use all their silk in the production of nests, and don’t make cocoons of their own at all!

though no one will ever know their opinion on child-labor laws, because they’re ants.

And they have to watch them, because weaver ant larvae have a very unusual predator. This is the caterpillar of a Moth Butterfly, one of the few species of butterflies whose caterpillars are actually carnivorous. They’re thickly armored, so the weaver ants’ jaws and stings can’t hurt them, which allows them to simply barge into the nests and devour entire broods of ant larvae. 

The Radiance’s scars are so deeply settled in the Hollow Knights mind that even Grimm can’t easily break them out of these nightmares without a fight.

but it’s not like thats too much of a chore for Grimm

The double meaning of the lyrics just had me at gunpoint.

Song: Counting Stars by OneRepublic

“Meet Sydney, a male umbrella cockatoo socializing with Vet Hospital Staff”

Hello, hope all of you are safe and doing well.

You may have heard of what happened in Lebanon today and if not, basically, there was a big explosion in Beirut that affected many cities, destroyed shops, homes, cars, caused many injuries and deaths. The cause is uncertain.

As a fellow lebanese myself (that also lives there), today was absolutely terrifying, probably the scariest moments of my life. We heard a deafening sound as the floors were shaking. Some of us thought it was an attack, others thought it was an earthquake. As soon as it ended many expected a second one, which luckily never happened.

Here’s a video of what happened that was sent to me, there are also many others that you can find online.

Windows were broken, doors wrecked, cars flipped over, buildings collapsed, people hit by flying or falling objects, and unfortunately, many didn’t make it out alive.

We were one of the lucky ones, our families and friends were all safe and our homes were fine.

Some people couldn’t even get out of the crumbling builings, so we saw corpses being pulled out, although some people survived the crash. But wherever we looked, there was blood, poeple were half covered in it, their shirts, pants, hair, everything. And that sight was traumatizing.

We watched the news with elders severely injured, children with blood-spattered shirts and people in pain that couldn’t get in the hospitals because they were full.

Some people are missing. Just try to imagine the pain and fear their families and friends are feeling.

Articles about what happened, there are a lot more

Not only are we in the middle of a pandemic, but Lebanon is also going through a very serious economical crisis. To give you an example, before, $1 equaled 1 500 lebanese pounds. Nowadays, $1 equals more than 7 000 lebanese pounds. Not to mention that we obviously don’t have any dollars at disposition, so yeah we’re fucked.

People are hungry, homeless, unemployed. And even if they are getting paid, it’ll be useless since the prices of everything went up because they were affected by the economical fiasco.

Important additional information

Today, I heard my 7 year old cousins scream in fear that they were going to die. I saw my aunt shaking, worried that her children won’t survive. I saw my dad freak out while trying to reassure us when we both knew that we were uncertain about the next minutes of our lives. I heard the panic in the trembling voices of my family and friends as they couldn’t believe what had just happened. I thought my loved ones and I were going to die in the next seconds.

I’m never forgetting those moments and feelings.

I don’t think signing petitions will help, i don’t even know if the following links will help either, I just know Lebanon and it’s people are desperate for anything because the future of this country is extremely uncertain.

https://helplebanonnow.carrd.co/

https://lebanoncrisis.carrd.co/

https://www.gofundme.com/f/lebanonneedsorg?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link

https://helplebanon.carrd.co/

http://redcross.org.lb/SubPage.aspx?pageid=1370&PID=158

http://www.caritas.org.lb/get_involved/donate

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lebanon-relief?utm_term=PYp7gXzyD

I think donating to the red cross would be the most helpful, so if you are considering it, it’d be great.